The 59th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held last Sunday night, February 12th, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. To open the show, Adele stood under a single spotlight and performed her iconic single, “Hello”.  As always, her vocals were practically flawless and mesmerized the audience.

Following Adele’s performance, the host of the ceremony, James Corden, was called to the stage.  To get a laugh out of the audience, Corden pretended to trip down the staircase on his entrance and somehow simultaneously managed to lose both his shoes and his socks, resulting in bare feet. He then impressively rapped his introduction to the show, mentioning many of the famous faces in the front rows of the audience, and subsequently introduced the first presenter, Jennifer Lopez. Throughout the course of the evening, Corden would reappear to introduce various presenters or performances.

Senior Rose McDonald was not a huge fan of Corden’s gimmicks. According to Rose, in regard to Corden’s performance as a host, “he was average”.  The British host’s best moment by far was jokingly reenacting his viral phenomenon, Carpool Karaoke, with a collection of celebrities.  With Neil Diamond hovering in the background, Corden, John Legend, Faith Hill, Jennifer Lopez, and their famous friends sang along to the tune of “Sweet Caroline”.

In regard to the Grammy Award recipients, Chance the Rapper had a historic night, becoming the first artist to win without being signed by a record label as he instead streamed his songs online for free. Yet, the most controversial moment of the entire ceremony was the announcement of the Grammy winner for Album of the Year.  Adele was gifted the Grammy for her album, “25”, despite all of the buzz surrounding Beyoncé’s “Lemonade”.  Adele noted her own support for Beyoncé in her acceptance speech and expressed disappointment at the result.

Senior Angela White was not that surprised with Adele’s win.  Angela noted that “Beyoncé’s album was more artistic and politically meaningful, but Adele’s music was more relatable, more widespread, and more heard”.

Additionally, much of the Grammy Awards ceremony was composed of musical performances, many of which had a political undertone considering the recent actions of the Trump administration.  However, for perhaps the most popular performance of the evening, Beyoncé decided to not go political and instead created a visual and musical tribute to motherhood through a combination of her songs, “Love Drought” and “Sandcastles”.  Senior Rose McDonald thoroughly enjoyed the performance, describing it as “nuts”.

The show also featured many tribute performances to the great artists that were lost in the past year.  Bruno Mars and The Time collaborated in a tribute to Prince. Mars donned a glittery purple suit for the occasion.  Adele also graced the stage for a second time in order to perform a tribute to the late George Michael.  However, only moments after beginning her rendition of his song, “Fastlove”, Adele, nearly in tears, called a stop to the song.  Saying that she couldn’t “mess this up for him”, Adele begged to restart the song and, upon finishing her performance, received a standing ovation.

Overall, the 59th Annual Grammy Awards were a wild ride of music, jokes, and political commentary.  Adele and Beyoncé truly led the night through their performances and awards, showcasing love and support rather than hate and competition.